Kamala Kanta Dash, BeyondHeadlines

A bomb exploded at the entrance of Delhi High Court yesterday morning at 10.14am. The blast killed 12 people so far leaving more than 90 injured. On the basis of eye-witness accounts sketches of two possible suspects have been released. The cyber café from where an email was sent to a media house to claim the HuJI hand has been raided. Sheila Dikshit, the Delhi Chief Minister while talking to the Headlines Today has expressed her frustration that in matters of security also the government has not been able to take immediate steps. This is clear that the Ministry of Home Affairs, government of Delhi and the entire law enforcement and intelligence agencies have learnt nothing from their past experience of facing terror attacks.

P Chidambaram in his message in the Parliament clearly mentioned that the Ministry of Home Affairs had shared intelligence with the Delhi Police in July 2011. However, the Lt Governor of Delhi, Tejinder Khanna last night told to NDTV that he was not aware of any such specific intelligence sharing (of actionable nature on any specific module). The governor has reiterated the need for a comprehensive security review of the situation in the national capital. But it seems that no one is buying his argument.

Delhi Police reports to the Governor on a regular basis and what has come out clearly is that the Union Home Minister also holds a daily meeting with Delhi Police (for an hour, 10-11am daily). Had there been real time intelligence sharing the blast at the High Court could have been avoided. The Home Minster’s claim that he shared information with the police does not absolve him of the responsibility. He has not followed up the intelligence lead and now squarely blames the police. The attempt to end the turf war between the Intelligence agencies has not been successful. It is now eminently important to understand the real channel of communication and the flow of intelligence as there is so much confusion and last minute blame games.